May

Corrina took the camera around the garden yesterday and captured the promising start that May always provides. Some of the promise was short lived thanks to high winds that followed and smashed through our borlotti beans and knocked the broad beans and the garlic around too. We always seem to get hit by high winds at least once in May, usually in the last week, but they've not damaged garlic before!

The garlic (Albigensian) and the Borlotti (Solista) before they were beaten by the spring breeze.
The bamboo's throwing up new shoots and they're growing a centimetre of two every day at the moment.

The Clematis Montana (Warwickshire Rose) has recovered from the hard prune I gave it last year after the patio was laid and I'm hoping it will soon be covering the shed.

Meanwhile, the Alliums are almost out in time for Chelsea

The rose (Dublin Bay) outside the front door is looking better than ever - not a hint of disease or pest damage (yet)!

And finally the Athyrium niponicum 'Pictum' is already the star of the fernery

It started a while ago...

OK, so I'm a bit late posting it but back in February the snow drops flowered and brought with them the anticipation of spring.


And at the end of March we started harvesting the purple sprouting broccoli, which was of course absolutely delicious. We ate this crop for lunch, quickly boiled with and topped with a poached egg and a liberal sprinkling of Cornish sea salt and coarsely cracked black pepper. So was it worth the effort of picking off the caterpillars and the space that it took up for 9 or 10 months? Corrina thinks so!

Fernley Goes To Bedfordshire

Back in November I put Fernley to bed for the winter and worried about quite how hardy he would be I decided to wrap him up well...

I started by wrapping his trunk with netting - my reasoning was that I didn't want the trunk to be constantly wet as it might be if it had fleece or bubble wrap directly against it and also the air gap, I hoped, would provide some insulation for the trunk.

I read that the crown is the most sensitive to the cold so I stuffed it with straw and dead leaves to provide a dry protective layer.

Then he had his trunk wrapped in horticultural fleece before being covered in a fleece house, constructed by Dad a few days earlier...

And then, just before his birthday in April, I woke him up...


We had a pretty cold February when the snow settled on his house but other than a few burnt fronds he came through the winter looking pretty good and now he's throwing up a few new fronds.
So Fernleys' winter home was certainly a success, though I think it might have been a touch over-engineered as I've since seen plenty of tree ferns left to the element for the winter with only a bit of straw stuffed in to the crown. However I'm not sure I'd take that risk, even though we're pretty sheltered here.

The Good - 2008

There's been plenty in the garden to enjoy, despite "The Bad" posted earlier. Below is a selection of some of the plants that have stood out this summer.


The Rudbekia "Herbstonne" has come back much stronger this year and although it's looking a touch untidy because I didn't tie it back early enough, it's still producing beautiful yellow flowers.

I planted the gazania that Dad brought me temporarily in a shady spot, waiting for spring when I re-jig the border, however it's kept on producing its bright red and yellow flowers throughout the summer and looks set to continue doing the same well into autumn.

My favourite addition to the garden this year is the fernery, with Fernley, the Dicksonia Antarctia standing proud over the Anthyrium nipponicum var. Pictum, hart's tongue, soft shield and lady ferns. The weather couldn't have been better for them this year - warm, wet and humid, leading to lots of healthy growth and hopefully an even stronger display next year.

The vine (Vitis vinifera 'Purpurea') has been quietly growing throughout the year and now has turned a deep, warm purple and next year will hopefully be able to cover the entire fence.

The Bad - 2008

It's almost the end of September and not all of the summer veg we planted has flourished. The gold rush courgettes that did so well last year have not cropped very heavily this year, with many of the fruits rotting on the plant but probably the most disappointing were our Gardener's Delight tomatoes. Planted outside in May, they were certainly the strongest plants we've ever planted but that's not enough when the summer is so wet and humid. All the plants succame to blight - I managed to save enough green tomatoes for chutney, but otherwise almost the entire crop failed.

When I lifted the last plants today I noticed that the roots of one of the plants was covered in what looked like a white mould that resembled ash.


One of the crops that I still have hope for is the purple sprouting broccoli, although they've been badly hit by cabbage whites they're still looking pretty strong.

The wet ground following the summer rain has truned the clematis armandii's leaves brown and they're dropping - I'm not sure what affect this will have on its blossom next spring since this year's growth is dying off so I might have to lift is and dig it a better drained hole in the new year.

D'Arcy And Everest

We took a trip to D'Arcy & Everest last weekend as they were having an open day. They're a specialist alpine nursery so Corrina picked up a few new additions for her apline collection, including this Delospurma Sutherlandii.

Sedum City

Corrina at last has a home for her sedum collection, a hot and sunny well-drained patch by the shed is now a thriving city of sedums and other succulents and alpines.